Circuit controller for electric heaters



Feb; 20, 192?.

A. PAPINI.

CIRCUIT CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC HEATERS.

ORIGINAL FILED ocT.15.19I9.

Patented Feb. 20, 1923.

UNITED STATES lPATENT oFF 1,445,707 ICE.

ANTHONY PAPINI, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR T0 E.. ECTRICAL DEVELOPMENT AND MACHINE COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYIALL IA, A

CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

CIRCUIT CON'IROLLIEIR FOR ELECTRIC HEATERS.

Original application iiled October 15, 1919, Serial No. 330,820. Divided and this application filed May 6,

19'20. seria1N0.379,343. i

To all whom t may con-cent:

Be it knownl that I, ANTHONY PAPINI, a

subject of the King of Italy, and a resident of Philadelphia, in the county of .Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements 1-. Circuit Controllers for Electric Heaters, l of which the following is a specification.

Mv invention relatesgenerally to electric heateir, of the portable type and particularly to circuit controllers therefor the present invention being a division of my lpending application Serial' No. 330,820, filed October 15, 1920. A purpose of my present invention is the provision of an electric heater having a pluralityv of circuit controllers operable to automatically disrupt the circuit for the heating elementy at a plurality of points when the heater occupies other than a normal'position.

I will' describe one form of heater and three formsof circuit controllers, cachembodying my invention, and will then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure -1 is a view showing in side elevation and in vert-ical section one formiof electric heater having applied thereto -the circuit controllers embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Figure 1 and looking in the direction ofthe arrows. 4

Figure 3 is a detailed view showing in section a portion of one of the circuit'controllers shown in Figure 1.

` Figure 4 is a plan view of a portion of one of the circuit controllers shown in Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a diagrammatical view of the circuit showing the relative arrangement of the circuit controllers ,with respect to the heating element. Y

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each'of the several views.

Referring specifically to the drawings and particularly to Figure 1, A -designates generally a hollow pedestal preferably formed of metal and having'its bottom relatively wide and closed by a plate 15 secured to the pedestal by screws 16. Mounted upon the upper ends of the pedestal A is a bracket designated at' B. and supported upon the latter is a reflector R having supported therein al coil'of wire'constituting a heating element, to which current is adapted to be supplied through wires W and W which are connected in any suitable manner to the terminals of thel coil. Current is supplied to the wires W and W from a suitable source of current such as a battery D' as shown in Figure 4, the poles of this battery being connected to wires W2 and W3 which extend into the base of the pedestal as is clearly shown in Figure 1. I nterposed between the wires W, W and V172, W3 are circuit' controllers designated generally at C, C and C2.

As illustrated to advantage in Figures 1, 3 and 4, the circuit controller C comprises a pendulum 17/arranged within the pedestal A and pivotally connected at its upper end upon a pin 18. The lower or weighted end of the pendulum 17 is provided with apocket 19 which slidably receivesla plunger 20. The plunger 20 is provided with a groove 20a in which works a screw threaded pin 21 mounted within the 4pendulum and arranged to allow a limited amount of longitudinal movement of the yplunger but lto prevent circumferential 19 and bearing against the upper end of the plunger. The lower end of the plunger 20 is provided with a pair of rigidly connected contact lingers 23 which are pivotally connected to the plunger by a pin 24, such lingers being arranged in divergent relation to each other and formed of conductinlg material. Arranged within the pedestal is aplate 25 formed of insulating material and supported in horizontal position by means of a screw 26. Upon the upper surface of this plate 25 is arranged a disc 27 of insulating material and having its upper surface concaved as indicated at 27a in Figure 4` Thisv disc 27 is formed with suitable openings to receive contact points 28 and 29 which are connected to or formed integral with rivets 30 which extend through the plate 25 and serve to secure the disc in proper position upon the plate. The contacts 28 and 29 constitute the terminals of the wires WV and VZ, respectively, so that when the contact lingers 23 occupy the position shown in. Figure 1, the contacts are bridged thus completing one side of the circuit, as will be understood. By virtue of the pendulum; 17, the contact fingers 23 bridge the contacts 28 and 29 only when the pedestal A occupies any other position than a truly vertical one. The pendulum 17 being biased to a vertical position will maintain the contact fingers in their normal position so that when the pedestal is moved to one side or the-other the contacts 28 and 29 are moved out of engagement with the ingers 23 thereby disrupting the connection between the wires `W and 72. It will be manifest that by virtue of this operation,

should the pedestal be accidentally knocked over or caused to occupy an inclined position, the circuit controller C will automatically disrupt one side of the circuit and thus discontinue the supply of current to the wire W and consequently to the heating element L of the circuit controller C.

Referring now to Figures 1 and 2, the

circuit controller C comprises a concaved disc 31 secured in horizontal position within the base of the pedestal by fastening members 32. This disc 31 is formed of insulating material and supports axiallythereof a smaller disc comprising sections 33 and 34 which are formed of conductive material and constitute the terminal contacts of the circuit controller. The section 33 is secured to the disc 31 by a screw 35 which projects through andl to the lower side of the disc for a purpose which will be hereinafter described. The section 34 is provided with a lateral extending arm 36 formed of conducting material and -secured to the disc 31 by a screw 37. The screw 37 functions as a binding post for one end of the wire W3 as is clearly shown in Figure 1. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the sections 33 and 34 support a contacting bridging member 38 which in the present instance comprises a ball formed of conducting material of such a diameter as to span the space between the sections so as to electrically connect the two. It will be noted that the sections 33 and 34 conform in curvature to the disc 31 so that i n the normal position of the pedestal A, the ball l38 occupies a bridging position. However, when the pedestal is moved to either side from itsnormail position, the ball 38 is free toroll outA of contact with one or the other of the sections 33 and 3 4 so that it no-longer bridges the'two sections thus disrupting a circuit including this circuit controller.. When the pedestal is returned to its normal vertical position. the ball 38 owing to the curvature of the disc 31 and the sections 33 and 34, will return to its normal bridging position.

The circuit controller C occupies 'a spring contact arm 40 which is connected to the marginal edge of the disc 31 by a screw 4l, and to this same screw is connected the wire WV in the manner shown. The contact arm 40 is bent upon itself as shown in Figure 1 with its free end normally contacting with the screw 35 so that an electrical connection is effected between the wire W and the section 33. Intermediate its ends, the contact arm 4() is provided with a block 42 which `is disposed within a suitable opening formed in the plate 15.

By when the pedestal is placed upon a flat support such as a Hoor or the like, the block 42 is forced upwardly through the platel thus causing the contact arm 40 to move into engagement with the screw The contact arm 40 engages the screw 35 as long as the pedestal is resting upon a flat surface. However, as` soon as the pedestal is lifted or over-turned the block l42 is free to move outwardly from the plate 15 under the action of the contact arm 40 thereby causing such arm to disengage the screw 35.

T he manner in which the several circuit controllers controlv the circuit for the heating coil L will be readily understood from a. consideration of Figure wherein it will be seen that current from the battery D is supplied to the coil L when all of the circuit controllers Aare in closed position or when the pedestal A is resting upon a. flat surface and occupies a truly vertical position. This circ-uit may be traced as follows: from the positive side of the battery D through wire W2, contact point 29. contact. arms 23, contact point 38, wire W', heating coil L, wire W, spring contact arm 40, screw 35, section 33, ball 38, section 34, arm 36, and wire W8 back to the battery D. vhen the pedestal A is lifted from, its support or overturned, the circuit controller C2 functions to disrupt the circuit for the heating coil L in a manner which hasbeen previously described.- When the pedestal A is overthis arrangement it will be seen that turned or occupies any position other than a truly vertical one, both circuit controllers' C and C function to disrupt the circuit for the heating coil L. It will therefore be seen that by virtue of the three circuit controllers, the circuit for the heating coil L is disrupted at a plurality of points when the pedestal A is moved from its normal position.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of electric heater and three forms of circuit controllers, each embodying my invention, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the spirit of the invention and the spirit and scope of -the appended-claims.

What I claim is:

1. An electric heater comprising a pedestal normally occupying a vertical position,

al'heatin'g element carried by the pedestal, a circuit r said element, and a circuit controller operable to disrupt said circuit when the pedestal occupies any position other than its normal position.

2. An Aelectric heater comprising a pedesf tal, a heating element carried bythe pedes- Ital, a circuit for said element, and a circuit f lo..

controller adapted to disrupt saidfcircuit when the pedestal occupies any position other than its normal position.

3. An electric heater comprising ajpedes- I tal, a heating element carried by the pedestal, av circuit for said element, and means for disrupting said circuit when the pedes-` tal is lifted or overturned.

4. A circuit controller for electric heaters comprising, a pair of contacts, a contact arm, and a pendulum for swingingly supporting the contact arm so that in the nor- -mal position of the pendulum 'said arm will bridge said contact vpoints and will disconmember being movable over said sections 'and disc and adapted to span said sections only when said disc occupies ya horizontal position.4

7. An electric heater comprising, a pedes tal, adapted to normally occupy a vertical position upon aflat surface, a heating element carried by the pedestal, a circult for `said element, and a circuitcontroller adapted to disrupt said circuit when the pedestal is lifted from said flat surface.

8. An electric heater comprising a pedestal, a reflector mounted thereon, a heating unlt Within said reflector and an automatic switch which operates to open thecircuit of the heatin unit when the pedestal is tilted substantia ly from its normal position.

9. An electric heater comprising a pedestal, a reflector mounted thereon, a heating unit within said reflector and a gravity switch which operates to open the circuit of the heating unit when the pedestal .is tilted substantially from its normal position.

l0. An electric heater comprising a pedestal, a reflector mounted lthereon, a heating unit within said reflector and an automatic switch located in the base ofthe pedestal whichY operates to open the circuit of the heatin unit when the pedestal is tilted substantia ly from its normal posit-ion.

11. An electric heater comprising a pedestal, a reflector mounted thereon, a heating unit within` said reflector, -attaching terminals in said pedestal for connect-ing to an electric circuit, an automatic switch for controlling the circuit Ithrough said terminals which operates to'- open the circuit of the heating unit whenthe pedestal is tilted substantially from its normal position.

.Y ANTHONY PAPINI. 

